Life Imitates Art Imitating Life
by vanrigsby
Summary: ""Right," Buffy starts to roll her eyes, but Faith notices the moment it sinks in. The moment she realises. Faith's not being judgmental without reason. She went to prison." Faith and Buffy discover Orange Is The New Black.


**A/N: Jess made a post, I was inspired. And then this happened.**

 **Disclaimer (cause I haven't done one in a while): Nothing is mine. Not BTVS, not Faith, not OITNB. Though, I'm pretty sure Faith owns me.**

 **Mild spoilers for the season 3 finale of OITNB. And the Angel episode _Sanctuary_ , I guess.**

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 _"do faith and buffy watch oitnb together does faith complain about various prison-life inaccuracies while buffy smiles uncomfortably what do they do. because obviously they're married."_

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Faith shuffles a little to get comfortable, one arm stretched along the back of the couch, the second pointed at the TV, remote in hand. One leg jitters impatiently. She's been waiting far too long for this show. Apparently it's supposed to be good. It does have women, It does have lesbians. And it is set in a prison. Could you ask for more?

Faith's pretty sure it'll be inaccurate - as most TV is - but it's supposed to have good drama, so she thinks she'll try to stick it out. Especially if Buffy likes it. And hey, if it gets boring, she's not above resorting to making out instead.

"I you don't get your ass in here in the next three seconds, I'm startin' without you!" she calls, knowing Buffy will hear her.

"I'm coming!" the blonde's voice is muffled with distance, but still distinct. "Keep your pants on."

Faith smirks and looks down at herself. "Well, they are on, but I can take 'em off if you want."

By this point, Buffy has rounded the corner into the living room, and she rolls her eyes at Faith's statement. She picks up a piece of popcorn from the bowl in her hands, and tosses it at Faith. The brunette knows it's meant to irritate her, but she manages to twist her head at just the right moment to catch it in her mouth. Chewing, she offers her wife a smug smile as the other woman reaches the couch.

"You're annoying," Buffy mutters, sitting down and leaning into Faith's side. It's a welcome weight, and it's times like this Faith remembers just how lucky she is.

"Yep," she leans over and presses a kiss to the blonde hair just inches from her face, letting the arm on the back of the couch drop to encircle Buffy. "Can we play the show now?"

"Fine," Buffy places the bowl of popcorn in Faith's lap, snatching up a few pieces before training her eyes to the TV.

The show starts out relatively normal. They sit, enraptured, for an episode and a half, and everything is going well. Until Faith scoffs.

"What was that?" Buffy sits up a little, turning her head so she can look at Faith incredulously.

"What?" Confusion clouds Faith's brain for a second. Did she do something wrong?

"That scoff."

"I did not scoff."

"You so did!"

"Nah."

"Yeah!" Buffy places on hand on Faith's thigh to push fully upright, tipping the popcorn bowl dangerously in the process.

"It's just not accurate," Faith catches their snack bowl easily, silently thanking her Slayer reflexes.

"Right," Buffy starts to roll her eyes, but Faith notices the moment it sinks in. The moment she realises.

Faith's not being judgmental without reason.

Faith has experience.

Faith went to prison.

"Oh," the word comes out of Buffy sounding like a sigh, or a simple breath, and Faith tries to make the situation lighter by continuing her joke.

"It's not real, B. That's what's funny. No way would it be set up like that. No way would we be allowed to talk with guards like that."

Faith doesn't even catch her pronoun use until she notices Buffy's almost imperceptible cringe. Shit. She's stepped in it this time. They've never really spoken about her time in jail, even after all these years. She knows it's still hard for Buffy to think of her in that environment. But she made her own peace with it centuries ago.

"Hey, it's cool, alright? Water under the bridge and that shit?"

"Yeah," Buffy gives an awkward smile, and Faith can tell it's forced. Still, she forges ahead.

"There ya go," she uses the arm still around the other woman to draw her close and kiss her. When they break apart, Buffy's arms snake around Faith's middle and squeeze. Faith notes the use of Slayer strength, and if she didn't have the same power herself, she's pretty sure she'd have lost all capacity to breathe. As it is, she kisses Buffy on the top of her head, and reaches for the remote.

The next night, they settle in to watch more episodes. They're hooked already. Faith can't help but tally up all the inaccuracies in her head, but she keeps herself from saying them aloud. It's intriguing, nevertheless, and Buffy seems to be enjoying it too.

"Thank god for Netflix," Buffy stretches out on the couch, taking up almost the entire space. Faith vacated her seat a few minutes ago to get them drinks, and Buffy appears to have taken it upon herself to seek out the warmth she's left behind. The sight of it brings a warm smile to the brunette's lips.

"Yep," Faith nudges Buffy's legs with her foot, and the blonde readjusts so they can both sit up, her legs sprawled across Faith's lap.

They watch in silence for a while, with Faith making snarky comments under her breath every now and again. Apparently, one of them ends up actually voiced aloud, because she receives a bump in the stomach from one of Buffy's heels. She looks over, and her wife has one eyebrow cocked.

"Care to share with the class?"

"Nah," Faith lays her hand on Buffy's bare ankle, feeling the warm skin against her palm. Maybe if she can distract Buffy, then they'll be fine.

"Faith," Buffy is clearly not buying her attempt at distraction, so Faith ups her game. She starts to rub small circles with the pad of her thumb

"B."

"What did you say?"

Faith considers not answering for a long moment. But then she remembers they'll have to face this someday, and today's as good a day as any to start. Plus, she loves this woman.

"I just said that's not how outside time works," Faith continues stroking Buffy's skin, keeping her voice quiet and her eyes trained on the blonde's.

"Oh," Buffy's mouth flattens into a thin line, the morphs into something resembling a smile. "Nice."

Faith hums her acknowledgement, running her fingers higher up Buffy's leg and attempting to escape the situation that seems to make her girl so uncomfortable. It works.

They make it almost an entire season before Faith comments on something again. Buffy looks over at her, brow furrowed.

"Oh, and that's not how it works?" her voice is on the verge of being considered harsh, but Faith pushes past it.

"Not really," Faith says, laughing a little at the end. Sure, Buffy may not find it amusing, but she definitely does.

"Faith," Buffy's voice is almost a warning, and the brunette knows that, but she can't help pushing one more time.

"Sorry, B. It's just funny to me."

"Right," Buffy says slowly, quietly, and Faith wonders if she's tripped into 'no-go zone' again. Then a tiny furrow appears between her wife's brows.

"What was it like?"

Faith is so thrown by the question that she doesn't reply or a solid minute. Maybe two.

"Uh, rough," Faith's voice matches her words. She clears her throat and tries again. "We didn't have anyone like that there for us."

"Oh," Buffy says, and Faith thinks sharing time may be over for now.

"Back to the fictional lesbians?" she questions, holding up the remote.

"Sounds good," Buffy snuggles into Faith's side, and the brunette can't help but feel like they've just made a step, though she's not sure where they're going.

A week and a half later, they're back to watching it. Faith's taken to mumbling things out loud every so often, and Buffy's started to nod in acknowledgment or ask a genuine question. It's better than her freaking out every time, that's for sure.

Buffy is sitting between Faith's legs on the couch, her back nestled against Faith's front. When the prisoners escape through a hole in the fence, Buffy twists in Faith's embrace, attempting to catch her gaze.

"Betcha didn't have anything like that happen." Her smirk is a mixture of amusement and hopefulness, and Faith can see the insecurity in her gaze. Her first instinct is to reassure her wife that yes, that was an acceptable joke, and yes it was amusing. Faith lets out a chuckle, pressing a kiss to Buffy's nose.

"Nope. Never that lucky. Had some gals try it a coupla times, though."

"Too bad," Buffy's voice is still light, but Faith watches her eyes relax, relief flowing through her body and causing it to melt infinitesimally against the brunette. Good. This is good.

"Yeah," Faith feels her own happiness fill her as she looks at the love of her life. They've made it to joking stage. That's something, right?

Maybe the next step is telling Buffy bedtime stories about the fights she used to get into?

… Or maybe not.

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 **If anything prison-related is inaccurate, you have my apologies.**


End file.
